Dragon Fire
by charliedee
Summary: Do not talk to me of dragon fire, I know its wrath and ruin. Indeed wrath and ruin was all the King knew after the tragedy at the Hills of Evendim, and became the only thing he knew how to live by. [Death of family member]


_"Do not speak to me of Dragon Fire. I know its wrath and ruin." _

Wrath and ruin it was. The dry grasses that covered the land of this particular spot had caught ablaze, burning a fierce red that cackled as loud as the overhead thunder. It was not small patches of fire that dotted the fields, it was far worse. The fires were expansive through the thousands of yards of unused land that housed this dry and brittle grass and showed no signs of dying down. With a dragon lurking overhead continuing to breath his death down upon the fields, there was no way this fire would back down any time soon.

If; however, the fire did not show signs of stopping this did not dampen the Elven guards' spirits as they fearlessly shot their arrows towards the fire-drake, unknowing this would have no effect on it's rock hard scales. There were the few who had not watched their backs as closely as they should have and tripped into the devastating fire, immediately losing their lives to the flames. There was no time to mourn their comrades, unfortunately.

The royal couple were invited to a grand feast in Lindon by non other than Gil-galad himself. Thranduil had accepted this invitation graciously - his wife had been nagging him that he needed a break from all the stress that brought a King so he found he had no other choice. He'd gathered a guard that consisted of only his best warriors to escort he and his wife through the lands of Middle-Earth until they reached Lindon. He then constructed a team of guards and nannies that would guard his one and only son while he was away on business so that way he and his wife could rest easy at night.

They were in the Hills of Evendim when the cry of a drake sounded through their sensitive ears.

Thranduil was the first to notice the sound as he considered himself the most alert of the group. He pulled on the jewel encrusted reins of his horse to stop it in its tracks and began to slowly look over his shoulder almost hesitantly. He wished that whatever that noise was belonged to an animal or creature that would not cause so much devastation as a drake would - but when he turned his gaze behind his group he saw the winged beast flapping towards them at ferocious speeds. In that moment he could feel his heart beating in his throat but as a King battle and confrontation was a customary thing so he had leaped off his horse as quick as the wind, he had no time to quiver in his boots when lives were at stake.

Already the fire-drake breathed fire down upon the lands as it soared through the air, it's eyes set on the small group of elves in the open about a mile away. Red fire flashed in his eyes as the ground was already set aflame from the reptile that swooped in low to the group of Elves. He stood almost paralyzed when he took in the size of the dragon._ There is no way we can kill that thing with just our bows and swords_. He shook his head and swiveled on his heels to notice his guards had abandoned their horses and darted off towards the dragon that landed a quarter of a mile away.

"Lindariel, stay put while I gather our troops. We will have no chance fighting against this thing." He pulled himself up onto his horse and shared a glance with his wife and she nodded, understanding his stand point. She pet her horses mane while Thranduil pulled his rein, watching as her husband was out of view and into the blazing fires.

He spotted the drake that had parked itself in the open atop of the hill and he could clearly see his men surrounding the thing with their simplistic weapons. Furious, Thranduil made his horse gallop faster towards his men in hopes there would not be too much lives lost with their sheer stupidity. "Guards!" He yelled at the top of his voice threshold, his heart pounding faster than his men being hit to the ground. "Fall back! I did not order this of you!" His horse whimpered loudly when the dragon let out a long breath of steaming hot air from his large nostrils and took a few cautionary steps back.

The guards that were left standing looked back to their King and nodded, understand they had crossed the line and began to quickly make their way back down the hill when the dragon took to the hot air. Thranduil shook his head and pulled the reins again to make his horse turn towards the steep of the hill to return to his Lady and bring them to safety. When his steed had turned the King's bewildered eyes only saw red. The whole area while he had been only a minute ago had been consumed by the inferno.

_Lindariel_! His horse galloped and the King wanted to curse at it for not going the speed of light when his _hervess_ was in danger. Suddenly, the horse stopped and lurched forward, sending the King toppling down onto the burnt and crispy ground. The horse got her bearings back and galloped off, away from the deathly fire like any sensible horse would but left it's King in the dust.

Murmuring different Sindarin curses, Thranduil pushed his body off the dusty ground and he could already feel his eyes grow wet and stingy with the unwarranted smoke that wafted off the fires that burned around him. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve quickly before letting them dart around his surroundings to gather his own bearings and to scout for one one Elf in particular. He could hear the shrill cries of a horse coming from his left but he, his wife, and his guards all traveled on horses so it couldn't have been hers, could it have been? He shook his head furiously. _Think Thranduil, think_! He got to his feet and fingered the hilt of his sword rather nervously. He had never planned on fighting a dragon on his way to a grand and beautiful feast extended to him by Gil-galad.

All around him was fire but when he spotted a small opening between the flames the King leapt through and found an exit to a large openness that did not house any flames. When he reached the clean air he sucked in a deep breath and felt his lungs open happily for the air, feeling somewhat rejuvenated from being thrown off his horse harshly.

"My King..." A male voice to his left sounded, the voice raspy like they had only been breathing pure black smoke. Thranduil turned immediately at the voice, half expecting it to be the dragon imitating something he knew. He looked the man down twice before figuring out the guard was kneeling beside something, a figure, blackened. "I-it was too late to stop the flame by the time we returned from the h-hill..!"

The King rose a singular brow and knelt beside the two cautiously. The figure was not wearing Elven armor like he and his guards donned for the trip... His eyes flashed angrily as he stared back intently at the guard. "Tell me! Tell me that this was a guard that stripped himself of his armors to aid his agility through the flames." The King was fuming now and he did not care if the poor guard was scared out of his mind, the guard who scampered back to get to his feet.

"I am so sorry my Liege.."

_Oh Valar_.

His befuddled eyes tentatively gazed back down to the burnt figure that still composed Elven like attributes and attributes he knew so well.. This was a burnt body that belonged to his wife Lindariel. Her beautiful light auburn hair had been burnt to nothing except a small tuft above her ear. With a shaking hand, he timidly touched the last remains of her hair, reminiscing. He let his knees drop by her side as his instincts told him to reach out and take her body into his arms as if she would find her life there but his mind told him she was long gone. _I should have known when I felt it_! With their bond being so powerful he felt something startling but ignored it to retrieve his guards back on the hill. _I am so stupid_!

He had courted this female Elf for quite some time so he'd know she was the true one - his one bond mate he'd want to spend he rest of his life with. He pledged to be her sword and shield through the many years to come, he pledged that he would take the bludgeoning head on first before her. That he would watch over her, night and day, and make sure that his royal duties never fell between their marriage. He had betrayed all those pledges he promised to hold sacred all his life, pledges he made with his hand on his heart.

She was burned to a crisp before him, blackened skin and hair in tiny particles on the ground. The only thing he could recognize was the silver family locket passed down through family for centuries. He did not know if she would have liked to keep it in death or if it were to be passed down into their own family. He took a deep gulp and quickly undid the back of it, though it was searing hot he did not care, for she had endured it until the blackness took her.

He pocketed the silver locket just before a wave of rich red flames came his way, engulfing the entire left side of his body in a mere second while engulfing the guards body and sending him to the ground instantly.

Thranduil wanted to give her a proper burial with her body intact but it seemed like that wasn't an option anymore. With the smell of burning flesh seeping into his nostrils, the Elvenking took to his feet and bounded through the flames, not giving two glances as to where he was going - he just needed to get out of there quick.

The drake soared overhead looking for more Elves to mess with but could see none since Thranduil dashed through the flames bravely. In it's head he repeated _more, more, more_! Yet his eyes saw nothing but his delicious red flames he had given them. Sneering to itself over it's victory on these silly little creatures he turned around, back towards the cave he had crawled out of.

_A horse, oh Valar_! Thranduil's keen eyesight spotted a grey steed waiting for it's owner, which was a dead guard, to come at get it like the obedient horse it was, unlike his own, the King frowned. He furiously pat the flames that stuck to his body like glue until they were put out and he felt completely and utterly numb like he had drank a whole tankard of medicinal numbing remedies and his eyesight was burning and blurring furiously, his left eye especially. Something told him he should seek out medical help before he returned to Greenwood but his body acted on it's own and told him he could last the journey back home the way he was.

He looked over his right shoulder one last time to the extensive fire that had engulfed every and all life that once stood there, including his fourteen guards he had constructed himself and his beloved. Shaking his head delicately, he looked back in front of him and his horse galloped faster toward his Kingdom.

"My liege!" "My Lord, what has happened?" "Where is the Lady of Greenwood?"

Bodies of different Elves surrounded the man who was exhausted out of his mind, poking and prodding at his heavy metals to relieve him of the weight. They did not even let him get passed the front gate without forcing him out of the blackened armor. Thranduil did not object. He simply did not have the energy to object to their caring thoughts and worries - in fact he almost needed someone to be worrying about him after what he had been through. But once they had stripped him of his armors he continued to put one foot forward, walking quickly into his Kingdom so he could think clearly.

"Your face!" One shrieked loudly. "My King, please tell us what has happened! Where is your company!"

He bounded up the stairs once he had entered his castle and shook them off him, staring at them coldly with his one bright blue eye and the other damaged one.

"Please my Lord." His adviser begged with a shocked face that soured up as he got a glance of the King's wounds. "You need to have medical attention for that... That... Burn?"

_Thranduil opened the large, grande doors to his private quarters and threw them closed behind him._

_They would stay closed for the months to come after the whole ordeal of losing his hervess to the fire-drake of the North._

* * *

Just a lil' thing I made tonight because I had major feels from DOS.


End file.
